Aiming to Become One of Global Top 3 Makers
SK Siltron, a semiconductor wafer manufacturer affiliated with SK Group, will make a large-scale investment for facility expansion.
The company announced on March 16 that it has decided to invest 1.05 trillion won over the next three years to expand its facilities for 300 mm wafers, which are located in Gumi National Industrial Complex 3. The company will begin the expansion work in the first half of 2022 to start mass producion from the first half of 2024.
SK Siltron is currently producing 200 mm and 300 mm silicon wafers, with 300 mm wafers, which are mainly used for memory semiconductors, accounting for 70 percent of its sales. Big customers include Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in Korea, Micron Technology and Intel in the United States and TSMC in Taiwan.
The global wafer industry is dominated by the top five companies, which enjoy a combined market share of close to 90 percent, according to Chip Insights. Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical and SUMCO stand first and second, respectively. The combined share of these two Japanese companies is about 50 percent. SK Siltron currently ranks fifth.
Wafer manufacturers around the world have been announcing investment plans one after another in anticipation of a supply shortage by at least 2026. Chinese wafer makers are especially aggressive. Chinese and Taiwanest players plan to ramp up their market shares by investing US$11 billion to US$13 billion and US$14 billion to US$17 billion, respectively.